


Kisses

by orphan_account



Series: Childhood Memories [4]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Growing Up, M/M, Young, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-24
Updated: 2013-03-24
Packaged: 2017-12-06 08:46:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/733775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>When Harry is 8, he catches his sister kissing another girl.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kisses

When Harry is 8, he catches his sister kissing another girl. Gemma never keeps secrets from Harry, so he’s unused to the concept of her privacy. That’s why he thinks nothing of bursting into her room at 9 in the evening to ask her for something that he promptly forgets because _she’s kissing her best friend_. Holly and his sister jump apart the moment the door opens, but not before he’s taken in the sight of the two of them clumsily pressing their lips together with their hands intertwined.

“Get out, Hazza!” squeals the older sibling, a blush staining her mortified face, however he’s not about to leave that easily without an explanation.

“But what are you…?”

“Get out!” she screams in that tone of voice which he knows better than to disobey, so he backs out of the room quickly, his head still spinning. In the morning Harry deliberately stays out of the way of Holly and Gemma, because he honestly wouldn’t put murdering him past her if he says anything to his sister. Eventually their guest leaves but he still leaves it a good hour or so before he can build up the nerve to ask her about the event that has been playing on his mind ever since he accidently walked in on it. She’s in her room when he walks in, once again forgetting to knock, but she stands up when she sees who it is and goes to ruffle his hair apologetically.

“Sorry for yelling at you last night,” clearly she’s got the wrong impression of why he’s been avoiding her, so he quickly jumps into the real reason why he wants to talk to her.

“Were you kissing Holly last night?” There’s silence, then she sighs and takes him hand before replying.

“Yes, yes I was.”

“But… but girls kiss boys, right? Not girls!” Painfully aware of how infantile he’s sounding, he gazes up at his sister in confusion, desperate for an explanation as to why the world isn’t as simple as he once thought. She looks back at him, her forehead creasing in the way he knows means she’s contemplating whether or not to tell him something, before she finally shakes her head in reply.

“Not always, Haz,” begins Gemma, sitting down on the edge of her bed and gesturing for him to do the same. “People can kiss whoever they want, and some girls like to kiss other girls.” Normally such overly euphemised speech would make Harry feel patronised, but right now he appreciates his sister’s choice of vocabulary since he’s beginning to feel like he’s 5 years old and learning about the world again.

“Are you one of those girls?” he asks her sincerely, however his sibling stares at him for a moment, scandalised, and then starts to laugh. Utterly bemused, the younger child sits there waiting for her to finish, unsure exactly what he said that was so funny. Eventually she recovers enough to talk, yet she’s still not making that much sense anyway.

“God no, H! I like boys way too much for that!” suddenly her expression turns serious once again. “But what you have to realise is that there’s nothing wrong with girls who like girls, ok? Some people say horrible things about them, but that’s wrong and you should never do that. Understand?” She looks so determined that there’s no way he can do anything other than nod vigorously in response, which causes his sister to wrap an arm around him and pull him into a hug. “Good,” mutters the 10 year old into his curls, however he doesn’t hear her for his brain is taken up with a new thought that has just occured to him and he’s dying to get verified.

“Gems?”

“Yep?” Pulling away from her shoulder, he looks into the eyes that match his own once more, desperate and yearning.

“If there are girls who like to kiss girls…”

“Yes…”

“…does that mean there are boys who like to kiss boys?” For a moment she simply looks back at him, an unusually unreadable expression on her face, and he wonders if she’s actually going to reply or not.

“Yes there are,” she eventually tells him slowly, as though interested to see that his reaction will be - after all, girls kissing girls has no relevance to his life right now, but the idea of two of his male friends kissing may well be a different story entirely. In actual fact, Harry’s not sure what to think about this. It doesn’t disgust him (none of this conversation has done), yet there’s just something about boys kissing boys that makes him feel… He’s not sure exactly what he feels, but it’s rather peculiar so he chooses to ignore it and instead nods sagely and hugs Gemma again, revelling in the normality of the gesture. There’s one more thing he has to ask her before his mind is totally settled, though, and it’s this question that’s making him feel even more uncomfortable.

“Do - do people say horrible things about boys who kiss boys as well?” This time her nod comes immediately although she doesn’t say anything. “Um… What do you think about them, Gem?” She doesn’t move her head or even look at him, but her grip around his waist tightens as she replies.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them - and anyone who says there is is just a bloody idiot!” It’s the first time he’s ever heard her swear and for some reason the fact that she feels so passionately about it is a comfort to him, so he tucks his head back into her shoulder, satisfied by her reply.

The next day at school Harry runs to find Louis at break time in order to tell him what he’s found out, but to his surprise his friend already knows. He catches the older pupil staring at him strangely whenever he brings the subject up and so decides to drop it, but secretly he spends a lot of time at home wondering about boys who kiss boys.


End file.
